MAD MARGRITT Show No Mercy (Perris Records)

“Show No Mercy” is the latest album from Atlanta’s Mad Margritt and coming six years since last release “Animal”, the album picks up nicely where that left off.

Only nine tracks in length, the only downside to the album is the production- frustrating to the listener, it must be somewhat of a fly in the ointment to the band. That said, “Show No Mercy” is packed full of good songs- “The Way You’re Loving Me”, ”Too Little, Too Much”, “Only In My Dreams” and “Breaking Down”. There is also a great version of AC/DC’s “Touch Too Much”.

The album is the first to feature new guitarist Carl Culpepper and he can be heard showcasing his wares on the acoustic instrumental “Indian Summer”. “Show No Mercy” also includes the ballad “Ever Since You’ve Been Gone”, a track that has everything it should including some big vocals courtesy of main man Eddie Smith.

“Show No Mercy” is a good album and let’s hope the band don’t leave it six years before the next. ****

Review by Nikk Gunns

NASTY CRUE Rock ‘n’ Roll Nation (Nasty Records)

Well, where do I start with this one? Whilst appearing to target Steel Panther’s audience, Polish outfit Nasty Crue, are a pale imitation. Musically it is OK, but that irony that Steel Panther do so well has obviously been lost in translation.

New 8 track EP “Rock ‘n’ Roll Nation” is the band’s first full length release, and I am still not quite sure how they are getting away with using the word Crue (omlaughts and all), although this has been bolstered by the addition of the track “Jingle Balls (Christmas Special)” and a second mix of “Rock ‘n’ Roll Nation”.

Tracks like “The Last Piece of My Heart”, “Stay Tonight” and “Spell On Me” are actually quite good, there are echoes of Faster Pussycat, Britny Fox, Motley Crue etc, but then the whole thing is kind of let down by “Ukrainian Prostitute”. **

Review by Nikk Gunns

HOTCAKES Excess All Areas (Bad Reputation)

Australian band Hotcakes are clearly hair metal influenced and, like several others lately that I could mention, it is hard to tell at times if they are trying to be tongue in cheek or not. Unfortunately, what this means is that there are quite a few bands out there that are beginning to sound a bit clichéd, opening track “Rock In The Afternoon” being a good example of this (to be fair, it’s not a bad song), another being the Poison like “Cut To The Chase (Naked Ladies)”.

Bearing all the trademarks of a late ‘80’s rock album “Excess All Areas” has the obligatory ballad (“If Only These Arms Could Hold You”) and the instrumental track designed to showcase the guitar player’s prowess (in this case guitarist Rohan Tyler does a good job). Don’t get me wrong, there are some good tracks here- “Look Before You Leave”, “Run and Hide (Coming To Get You)” and “Easy Come Easy Go”- it’s just that Hotcakes appear to be trying just that little bit too hard.

There can’t be that many good bands in this genre in Australia, if Hotcakes get it right they could clean up. ***

Review by Nikk Gunns

ATTITUDE Autodistruzione (Raw Lines)

There appears to be a trend for bands to release albums containing just 8 or 9 tracks lately. More than an EP granted but I still feel a bit cheated. Attitude’s latest offering “Autodistruzione” is one such album- it’s also an interesting one as it is sung mostly in the band’s native Italian but with a smattering of English throughout. Obviously, it’s hard to tell what the band is singing about, although I could hazard a guess, but the music itself is strong enough to carry that.

The vocals from Andre Licks at times remind me of P.I.L era John Lydon, particularly on opening track “Sarato Sera”. “Rock On” has the feeling of Buckcherry loosely jamming “Welcome To The Jungle” whilst “Furto Dal Diavalo” features some stunning CC Deville style guitar playing courtesy of Davis Riff.”Hot Girl” and the heads downs AC/DC style “Rock n Roll Radio” round out the highlights here.

“Autodistruzione” is a good album but I can’t help feeling that the band would widen their appeal, and therefore potential fan base, by adopting the more commercially friendly English language. ***

Review by Nikk Gunns

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions, streamed via Facebook.

Next session: Sunday 19 January

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio

David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast on 24 November 2024.

UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). This show was first broadcast 26 November 2024.

How to Listen Live?

Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)

Listen via Windows Media Player. Click or tap here and “open file”
Listen via other media player (eg. VLC) Click or tap here and “open file”

Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.

More information and links at our radio website where you can listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com

Power Plays w/c 9 December 2024

In this sequence we play ‘The Best of 2024′ GRTR! reviewer selections

Featured Albums w/c 9 December 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2024 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2024 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2024 (Singer Songwriter)